Uber plans to win Indian market with investments, innovations

San Francisco-headquartered Uber is leaving no-stone-unturned in trying to capture the Indian market. The company is now taking all India-specific measures such as rising investments, bring new innovations, scale up growth and expand its engineering team to write a success story in the country.

“India was among the company’s most significant markets globally and that it would do whatever it takes to succeed in the rapidly growing internet economy,” said Daniel Graf, Uber’s global head of product, talking to Mint.

He added that markets like India, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc. are massively growing markets and very important for the company. “We’re putting in a lot of engineering resources in India — we have 150 engineers here in Bangalore and in Hyderabad. We’re developing global solutions here in India in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, we’re going to continue to invest and grow these teams. No question about it.”

The company has a long-term sustainable business here in India. It also believes in the fundamentals of its business and claims to be profitable in many of the markets.

Uber is also changing its policy and approach to win over the Indian market.

It aims to earn back respect and trust it has lost over years among its users and driver partners. The company has been criticized as having a workplace hostile to women, hired two senior female executives in June.

A few days, talking to Moneycontrol, Graff said, “Technology alone will not do that. It is a lot about being good human beings and listening. One of the crucial reasons for our visit here in India is to talk to driver partners and listen to them, find out what works and what doesn’t. If I tell you everything is great, that is just not true. There is a lot of room for improvement and we are young.”

Already many Uber senior team members, including Manik Gupta, Head of Product, Marketplace and Maps; and Peter Deng, Head of Uber Rider Experience have been visiting major cities -Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad to address the issue.

The company has announced a slew of India –specific solutions including a new feature that allows Uber users to book a cab for friends and family in different cities. It has also started a nation-wide number of people to call and book a cab. This will expand its reach to non-smartphone riders.